A few things to note is I have a sheeter and I fold it about 5 times through the sheeter flouring each layer before the next fold. I am able to layer it into several layers so it puffs up to about 5mm - 10mm thick with many crackery layers. I want to par bake it so I can make frozen pizza for later use. I par bake it at about 500 deg F for about 6 minutes. They come out amazing. However after cooling for several hours on the wire rack about 20% or so of them will slowly develop cracks all over them rendering them useless. Upon trying to use them they usually crack in half or into several pieces. If I do manage to top them they will for sure crack into tiny bits upon trying to cut them. The other 80% come out great!

I am thinking that the skins are drying out too much and they start getting brittle. Since the skin has several layers, the layers maybe drying out at different times causing stress on the skin creating the cracking. Not sure if this makes sense. I have left my skins out up to an hour and have had no problems. Of course I don't layer mine.

A few things to note is I have a sheeter and I fold it about 5 times through the sheeter flouring each layer before the next fold. I am able to layer it into several layers so it puffs up to about 5mm - 10mm thick with many crackery layers. I want to par bake it so I can make frozen pizza for later use. I par bake it at about 500 deg F for about 6 minutes. They come out amazing. However after cooling for several hours on the wire rack about 20% or so of them will slowly develop cracks all over them rendering them useless. Upon trying to use them they usually crack in half or into several pieces. If I do manage to top them they will for sure crack into tiny bits upon trying to cut them. The other 80% come out great!

Any ideas on what I am doing wrong???

Check to see if the damaged ones keep showing up in the same area where you are airing them...you probably are catching a draft from somewhere. Alternatively, drape a large piece of plastic wrap over the entire area. Use something thick(sheeting) that you can fold up and reuse for this purpose.

Put in the fridge for about 18 hours. Took it out and let it sit for about 2 and a half hours. Rolled it out as thin as I could get it and pre baked it in a 16 inch pan at 550 degrees for about 5 min. OOPS forgot to dock it so forked it and pushed down the big bubble. Let it cool and then I topped it. Sauce, little bit of cheese, Pepperoni, black olives, and then the rest of the cheese. Then back in at 450 degrees, for about 10 min. Turned out great. I mean it was just about perfect. I even made a small pizza with the left over dough and that one turned out great as well. I even docked that one. I do have a stone but I skipped that step and with how this turned out I do not see myself using one anytime soon for this recipe. Man this is one great forum. I never made a pizza before I came here and already Iíve made a Chicago DD, a Chicago thin, a greek, and this one all of witch were better than most places people pay big money for. Even my flop of a NY style pizza was still pretty darn tasty.

1. Need to thin the dough more.2. Need to dock the dough more... (I got a very large bubble in the middle on the parbake).3. Need to leave it in the oven for longer for the parbake and final cook. (Too use to Neo-Neapolitan style in my mind lately, I think I pulled it too early.)4. Wife says I was too stingy with the cheese. She's the wife. She's always right.

The skin looks too thick. I roll mine out to the thickness of a dime or credit card. I don't have a docker, so I use a fork. I do dock the dough pretty heavy. If I see huge bubbles during the par bake, I use a fork to pop them during the par bake. If you wait to do that after the par bake, the skin is too brittle and it just cracks or you get holes in the bubble where you pop them. I par bake the skin in the pan placed on the stone for about 3 or so minutes. I pull it out of the oven just when I start seeing some light brown spots. Your skin looks like it was very dry when it was rolled out. Looks like a lot of cracking a breaking. Make sure to let the skin warm up on the counter for a couple of hours before rolling out.

The skin looks too thick. I roll mine out to the thickness of a dime or credit card. I don't have a docker, so I use a fork. I do dock the dough pretty heavy. If I see huge bubbles during the par bake, I use a fork to pop them during the par bake. If you wait to do that after the par bake, the skin is too brittle and it just cracks or you get holes in the bubble where you pop them. I par bake the skin in the pan placed on the stone for about 3 or so minutes. I pull it out of the oven just when I start seeing some light brown spots. Your skin looks like it was very dry when it was rolled out. Looks like a lot of cracking a breaking. Make sure to let the skin warm up on the counter for a couple of hours before rolling out.

Nick, thanks for the tips! The skin was definitely warm (2.5 hours at room temp) before I rolled it out. I definitely have to roll it thinner though... completely underestimated how thin to roll (likely thickness of 2 quarters or 2.5 quarters...)

You go straight to stone after the parbake, correct? No more pan?

I may up the oil content to help create a more hydrated skin... I believe I was 4% before?

I have used more oil and have found the crust begins to become more like pie crust than cracker. I like between 3 and 3.5 tablespoons of oil for the recipe I use for a 14 inch pie. I would up the water a little, but not by much, maybe a tablespoon or less. The flour I use is KA bread flour. If you are using a different flour you may have to change the hydration a little to compensate. After the par bake I let the skin cool for about 10 minutes before I top the skin, then I place it directly on the stone for the finish.

I am thinking that the skins are drying out too much and they start getting brittle. Since the skin has several layers, the layers maybe drying out at different times causing stress on the skin creating the cracking. Not sure if this makes sense. I have left my skins out up to an hour and have had no problems. Of course I don't layer mine.

I suspect this is the case too. I have been doing some mass testing as of recent still not 100% but I have managed to get a better texture (IMHO). I sheeted it less times but at a thicker thickness and it came out wonderful. HOWEVER my first problem was the outside was nice and crispy and the inside somewhat soft. So I reduced the temperature and increased the cooking time. (Sounds like the right approach??) Seems to have helped but not quite enough. Also the crust cracked as usual after applying the toppings and re-cooking so I changed the par-bake time to a little less and now it's too soft but no cracking. Maybe an even lower temperature and longer cooking time to have it a little more evenly crispy all the way through?? I'm at 480 bottom temperature 450 top now. What do you figure? I'm also going to try an increase in the oil content as I am using about 3% in the recipe, but I see in this thread it uses about 8%....

Are you weighing the ingredients by weight or by volume. When I first made my cracker crusts the doughs had less hydration and the edges would crack. I added about teaspoon of water and that stopped the cracking. Are you letting the dough rest in the fridge for at least 24 hours? I use about 3 to 3.5 tablespoons of oil for my recipe. It seems to make the dough easier to stretch, and makes the skin feel a little softer. The oil seems to make the skin crisper when cooked. I par bake the skin in a cutter for 3 minutes on a 500 degree stone, then remove it from the pan and place it on the stone for about 2 minutes. I let the skin cool to room temp which takes about ten minutes. While the skin is cooling I let the stove cool down to about 425 degrees before pLacing the topped pie back on the stone. I think the cooling of the skin, and the lowering of the bake temp helps dry out the crust because of the longer cook time. You might try making a pie without layering the skin. I get plenty of lamination and layering without it. If that works OK, then go back and try the layering again. I know other members layer their skins and don't have your problem. You should check out some other threads on the cracker crust thread, maybe they are doing something different to get great results. Good luck, let me know how your results go.

Ingredients are done by weight. I am making another batch right now. Dough rests a full 24 hours in the fridge. I suspect that the problem is drying out too much so I need to find a balance of thin enough to be crispy but thick enough to have layers and some texture but not be soft in the middle. I will post my results in a few days. My pizza's are personal size 9".

Ingredients are done by weight. I am making another batch right now. Dough rests a full 24 hours in the fridge. I suspect that the problem is drying out too much so I need to find a balance of thin enough to be crispy but thick enough to have layers and some texture but not be soft in the middle. I will post my results in a few days. My pizza's are personal size 9".

Have you ever made a cracker with a same day dough? Might be worth a try....Unless you have some sort of phenomenal, awesome recipe....cracker crusts are pretty much just a vehicle(with crunch ) to deliver some phenomenal tasting sauce and toppings.

I cooked up the nick57 cracker crust last night. Mixed up the dough on Wednesday night, all done by weight I used 16 oz of flour and the appropriate % of the remaining ingredients, including 3.25 TBSP of oil. Removed the dough from the refrig yesterday 2 hrs prior to rolling out. Rolled out (2 crusts) nice and thin, the dough was great to work with. Had preheated my oven and stone for 1 hr @ 550 degrees, par baked the crust on a pan with the holes in it. I actually par baked for 5 min. @ 550. 3 minutes, then turned the crust over and an additional 2 minutes. I had made two crusts, after par baking both, I added toppings, meanwhile the oven was cooling off to 425. Popped them in one at a time for 11 minutes each, middle shelf of the oven, on the pan which I set on the stone. As I removed each pizza I would let it rest on a cooling rack for several minutes prior to cutting. All I can say is WOW!! This is the thin crust I have been searching for all my life! Crunchy all the way to the middle, nice air pockets, nice leoparding on the bottom. Wish I would have taken pictures. The other thing I truly enjoy about this crust is my wife and I were really able to load up with ingredients and it still came out nice and crisp edge to middle.

My tip: The second pie I finished it by sliding it off the pan and directly on the stone the last 3 minutes (middle shelf), definitely finished off the crust a little nicer than the first one.

Great forum - Thanks for all tips, experimenting and feedback nick57 and everyone else.

It's always fun to make a pie at home that you like. Sounds like you have your cracker crust recipe down. I par bake the skin for 3 minutes in the pan, then I remove it from the pan and onto the stone for another 2 or 3 minutes to get the crust crisper and to remove more moisture. After I top the skin, I place it directly onto the stone till the toppings cook and I get some nice browning on the crust, about 3 to 5 minutes. I also place the pie on a cooling rack for a few minutes after cooking so the steam escapes and the bottom of the crust does not get soggy. I haven't make a cracker crust in a while, I'm trying my hand at NY style, but now after reading your post, my next pie may have to be a cracker. Congrats on your success at making a great cracker!

Yes I do in fact own a 71 GTO, after a 3 year resto with some mods - finished in June of 2009, although you are never really done. I have driven it on 3 power tours and continue to have a blast driving it each summer. I like the car because you rarely see one at a show, on the road etc.

Yes I do in fact own a 71 GTO, after a 3 year resto with some mods - finished in June of 2009, although you are never really done. I have driven it on 3 power tours and continue to have a blast driving it each summer. I like the car because you rarely see one at a show, on the road etc.

Hey, I had 2 GTO's! One was a 1965 silver 389 hydraulic convertible top with chrome dashboard and 3 speed auto floor shift. My other was a 1967 with a 4 speed straight gate floor shifter, headers, 3 carbs, 2 500 outboards and 1 250 inboard. The engine was board out to a 401 cubic incher. It looked like a sleeper. Fastest I ever got it to was close to 140 mph, and with all three carbs open I would get 1 mile per gallon of gas. Of course at that time gas was only 65 cents a gallon.

Speaking of MPG, mine will get anywhere from 8 - 16mpg depending how hard you are on the throttle. Just filled up with premium yesterday $4.56/gallon OUCH! But hey can you really put a price on SMILES PER GALLON (SPG)? No

BTW - Was at Target in Woodbury, MN and they had 5lb bags of KABF, could not believe it. Going to try the crust again this weekend with KABF, just getting ready to mix it up.................Wow my Friday nights are exciting.

Boy, I wish I had some pics of my Goats. I saw a pristine 1965 like mine go for almost a quarter mil at auction. I paid $300 for mine and then traded it for $1000 stereo system, that's 1973 dollars. Well, I have been craving a cracker crust lately. I blew the first rule of experimenting, make one change at a time. I made several. I have liked my past pies, but still not what I was wanting. The crusts were very crisp but seemed too crunchy as compared to what I remember about PH pies. I remember them being crispy but had a light soft bite. Mine seemed a little harder till this one. This one seemed pretty close.This is a list of the changes.1 I used less spritzing of water to get the dough ball to hold together. The dough ball really seemed dry, but did not have any dry flour after forming.2 I used 1 tsp of VWG.3 I used about 1/4 tsp more of salt than the last pies.4 I sifted the flour before mixing.5 Instead of using a cutter pan, I used parchment paper. My cutter pan sometimes warps when on the stone, which led me to try using the paper for more contact with the stone for more heat transfer to the skin. I removed the paper after 3 minutes into the par bake. The crust really had a nice flavor, maybe the increase in salt helped. I used Chicago Bob's trick with the mushrooms, and they did not release as much H2O as in the past. I really like how the crust turned out. I am going to try this recipe again to see if I get the same results. In the last pic you can see a little spiderwebbing. Not sure how this happened since I was at 45% hydration.

i made a couple cracker crust for dinner. they rolled out great and we brushed one with oil and the wife wanted sauce on the other one. i think i docked them too much before the par bake or didnt roll it thin enough. maybe both. mine didnt bubble up as much as others i have seen on here. barely managed to snap a pic before we ate it all. they really tasted great but didnt look like yours. not bad for a first effort but a lot of room for improvement. will definitely try again soon.